You would think that as a Florida congressman, Cliff Stearns would know the importance of the environment to our state's economy.

You would think that the Ocala Republican would be acutely aware that healthy waterways are essential to Florida's quality of life and to attracting tourists and their dollars to our state.

You also would think that after serving almost 25 years in Washington, Stearns would use his experience to seek a sound, reasoned approach to curing the ills that afflict the St. Johns River and other waterways in Florida.

You would be dead wrong.

Stearns put on a sham of a "congressional hearing" last week in Orlando that centered on stricter standards for the amount of nutrients allowed in our rivers and streams, the stuff that feeds algal blooms that turn them into a smelly, unhealthy mess.

His bias was clear from his opening statement that the Environmental Protection Agency has "taken over Florida's well-regarded process."

Of course, it was easy to realize that Stearns' hearing was nothing but a dog and pony show in the first place simply by looking at who was invited to speak.

The witness list was filled with the names of polluters. How about a little balance? Stearns' excuse was that environmental groups didn't ask to participate.

Oh, really.

Bryan Eastman responded: "I am the leader of a [University of Central Florida] environmental group, and I called Stearns' office to see if we could speak, as did the Sierra Club. He told us no one could speak except for invited guests."

Stearns' claim, Eastman wrote, was a "bold-faced lie."

And about Florida's "well-regarded process." If Florida is doing such a bang-up job of protecting our waterways, why are so many of them sick?

Unfortunately, Stearns isn't the only North Florida congressman endangering the state's environment.

John Mica spearheaded legislation in the Republican-controlled House that essentially would gut the federal Clean Water Act that was passed in 1972 and has been a critical tool in the fight to clean up rivers, streams and lakes.

Not surprisingly, Stearns joined Mica in voting for the bill as did our own Ander Crenshaw, who should know better.

So much for Crenshaw's "I love the St. Johns River" claim.

The Clean Water Act, by the way, was a driving factor in Jacksonville's decision to finally stop dumping 15 million gallons of sewage daily into the St. Johns, work that was completed in 1977 and was celebrated by Mayor Hans Tanzler's famous attempt to ski in a cleaner river. He fell in and survived.

The U.S. Senate needs to make sure the House bill doesn't see the light of day, or polluted waterways could once again just be a flush away, thanks to folks like Stearns, Mica and Crenshaw.

Question: Littlepage asks, "If Florida is doing such a bang-up job of protecting our waterways, why are so many of them sick?" But then he infers the opposite with "...polluted waterways could once again just be a flush away."

Which is it? The waterways are sick or The Clean Water Act cleaned them up?

If we have spent money for regulations to comply with The Clean Water Act, and they have resulted in nothing more than sick waterways, why on earth should we spend another dime or another second debating the issue?

This issue is too important to allow unthinking liberals to demagogue it as just another political argument. Liberals will lose the argument, then we will all lose interest, and then the waterways will actually be left to real risk.

Liberals appear to be competing with other liberals to see who can be the most radical on many issues. So-called environmentalists who see all uses of the waterways—beyond their own of course— as being destructive are nothing more than wackos in search of a cause.

We need to remember Mica,Stearns and Crenshaw and vote the scumbags out of office.They allways use the job killing card.Well if thats what it takes to help the St.Johns they can shut down GP right now.That river is worth a whole lot more than a few thousand jobs.It would be insane to deregulate and give the polluters free will.

If there were a market for brown toilet-paper, it would be sold. But there isn't.

The EPA is setting standards that are unattainable so that business has to shut down. We will still get white toilet paper, it will just come from outside of the country.

Just like with the coal industry and electric generation, the EPA is setting standards that just cannot be met. When you try to get 85% of a toxin out of coal burning, that is one thing. To say you have to get 98% out, is thousands times harder and millions of times more expensive.

In fact, if the EPA gets their way, we will lose 8.7% of our electric generation OVERNIGHT!

This is why the EPA needs to be the first agency deleted from Washington when Perry wins and we take the Senate.

What if a public service publicity campaign advised that Mr. Koch and GP would not need a $41M pipeline to the middle of the St Johns... if
the paper product buying public could understand that off white or light brown paper products where just as sanitary and pure as the bleached to super white TP that we have been sold on to be the only thing pure enough to get close to the buying public privates....

As the bleaching process appears to be responsible for the dioxin problem with the waste water... perhaps...

everybody can win if we all talk and approach problem solving with an open mind.